It seems an awful long time since I last did an ad break but that doesn’t stop me from continuing to collect them.

From decade to decade, generation to genaration the same things crop up with almost predictable monotony.

Food and drink, cooking utensils, clothing and shoes (the fashions and foibles of the time), washing, (ones clothing , ones children and oneself), cars, entertainment and holidays.

In the wake of two world wars and years of on/off austerity people were beginning to think there was more to life. Foreign holidays grew in popularity as soldiers returned from far flung places with new ideas and more open minds.

The world was shrinking.

New products and foods were entering the normal world.

With transport becoming ever faster and more efficient items from around the globe were no longer out of reach of the ordinary household.

But the old form of written, drawn, photographic, colour and black and white images are gradually being replaced by media ‘events’, short ‘arty’ films, stories and ever more complex images that can frequently bear little or no relationship with the product (Perfumes and cars being prime examples)

Give me a good, old fashioned Marmite advert every time. The kind of simple, honest product advertising that does exactly what it says on the tin! (Or the billboard or in the favourite magazine or newspaper)